Sunday, 18 May 2008

A spotty sun hat... and some gorgeous fabrics

Inspired by the gorgeous warm, sunny weather we've had recently & the realisation that both my sons need new hats (which they wont wear & we will lose after a couple of days carrying them round!) I thought I might have a go & creating a sun hat pattern. Using an old hat as starting point for a template, I put together a 1st attempt using some scrap fabric (some ancient slightly smelly curtain lining in fact!). That turned out ok so I had a go at the real thing. One of the great things about my crafting learning curve is that it continually brings home to me how important it is to prepare thoroughly before you starting cutting away at your most beautiful fabrics & yarns... creating test pieces is irritatingly time-consuming but saves me time & money in the long run.

It has been a very satisfying project - reasonably quick to create & fun to do. The first one I have made has a head circumference suitable for a 1 year old (ish!) but unfortunately all my friends' kids are older, so I had to approach virtual friends in my online home at www.iwantmymum.com for a volunteer to try it out & model it. There were plenty of volunteers & Sandra & her lovely little girl Edith are going to be on the receiving end of my experimenting. This is the finished article - which has turned out pretty well. The fabric is some marvellous cotton from Kaffe Fassett's patchwork collection (there's a fantastic range at Cotton Patch). It's fully lined in white cotton too, so hopefully it looks smart & will keep the wearer nice & cool & comfortable. I am concerned at the moment that the crown of the hat is too tall so that it will come down too far over the eyes - it will be interesting to see what my testers make of it. If Sandra & Edith like it I will be stocking up on some more gorgeous Fassett fabrics like Potentilla Pink (on the right) & this Roman Glass Pastel (left). Of course, now the weather had turned rather chilly & showery so I would propably be better off looking for waterproof fabrics to create some groovy rainhats instead.

Craving new fabrics..Country House Antique Textiles have some great fabrics in stock at the moment especially in their 60s/70s section. I am particularly keen to buy some of this lovely 1960s Geometric Fabric designed by Julia Black. I think it would make a very cool bag, but I wonder if the colours are more autumnal than spring-like. The other piece I am not even going to link too because it is just so marvellous & I don't want anyone else to buy it. I want to measure my windows to see if there's enough fabric there to make some curtains with it, but then again I might get it anyway to make some cushions.